Wednesday March 18 - Swimathon, page-9

On the subject of short selling, I posted the below at the weekend. I thought I would update it with the new numbers from the latest ASIC report dated March 11th.

Previous post
For those that may have an interest. There was much talk on the thread last week regarding the nasty short sellers, (somebody even saying it should be banned) and the massive short covering that may or may not have occurred on Friday. As it is not always the nasty short sellers or the evil hedge funds that take a market down, and it is not always short covering that takes a market up, but just the usual selling and buying, I compared the ASIC short report from trade date Feb 20th which was just before the drop-off, to the same one dated March 9th, which is the latest available report. I looked at the top 20 stocks as they represent over 50 pct of the XJO, being 54.78 pct as of the report I used this morning. The total short percentage of the top 20 stocks on Feb 2oth, was 16.46 pct, and on March 9th, it was 19.50, so an increase of 3.04 pct. Not exactly huge, seeing as the market went down 19.57 pct in the same time period, so from a close on Feb 20th of 7,162, to a close of 5,760 on March 9th, a fall of 1,402 points. Friday's short report will not be available until next week, so can see the massive short covering that may or may not have occurred. Feel free to check the numbers yourself. cheers

Update. On March 11, the short position on the top 20 stocks, increased to 21.60 pct, so an increase of 2.11 pct from March 9, and 5.14 pct from Feb 21. From Feb 21 to March 11, the market fell 20.06 pct, and on March 10, the day prior to the latest report, the XJO was in the green. Or put another way, between March 9 and March 11, the market fell .61 pct, and the short positions increased by 2.11 pct. The largest short positions were: From Feb 21 to March 11, BHP 3.24 pct to 4.59 pct, RIO 3.78 pct to 4.70 pct, WPL .99 pct to 1.83 pct and IAG.50 pct to 1.33 pct. The numbers would suggest, it is hard to blame the short seller.. cheers